Tribute to Cheap Cheap
Cheap Cheap was a "wild" turkey that I incubated after the dogs disturbed the nest. After I realized he was the only one that was going to hatch I searched frantically for 'brothers and sisters' for him so he wouldn't be lonely. Finally after 3 days I found someone selling Bantam Cochin chicks and Bantam call ducks, all the turkeys were already too old. After I brought the new birds home I discovered 2 things. First Cheap Cheap was terrified of his new "friends" and second he had imprinted to my hand. I spent over a week literally carrying a baby turkey with me wherever I went. If I set him down in the kitchen while I was cooking he would peck at my rug and then try to burrow under my foot. Cheap Cheap would make a soft "phfeet phfeet" sound to make sure I was nearby and as long as he could hear or see me he was fine. If I got out of his sight even briefly he'd panic and call "Cheap Cheap!" I'd cheap back at him and he'd come on the run. Sadly the day after I took the picture of him sleeping on my keyboard, he got out of his box and Duchess (our formerly mild mannered 13 year old dog) killed him. It may sound silly but I think she was jealous because she'd been watching me carry him around and had tried to get between Cheap Cheap and me whenever she could. Anyway silly or not I really miss him. He was pretty special.
Cheap Cheap and Hobbes (aka
Bobbert) becoming better acquainted. Despite how dire it may look let me assure you this is one cat that has not only never tasted mouse or bird, but will literally not eat anything but dried cat food. I've tried unsuccessfully to get Hobbes to kill small spiders and he just can't bring himself to make the kill.
Cheap Cheap briefly flirted with the idea of Hobbes being a surrogate mother. Hobbes was actually more than a little scared of him and I had to snap the picture quick has my 15 lb cat fled from a 5 ounce turkey.
Shane waking up to Cheap Cheap.
On to Happier Themes
The boys have both had a busy couple of weeks. Lil' Vance went to Empower Me Day Camp for a week. This camp is designed specifically for special needs kids. The theme was Talent Week and Lil' Vance chose to show off his muscles as part of the talent show.
I got a huge kick out of this part. They had made a large aluminum foil dumbbell and carried it out like it weighed a ton. Then Lil' Vance bent the bar in two. Only he got carried away and proceed to wad it up as small as he could.
This girl (I don't know her name) sang a song as part of her talent. I cried through the whole thing. She sang a song that although I've heard before I don't know who sings it. It was all about how when she gets to heaven she's going to dance before the Lord, and see His face. So sweet, but it still makes me tear up just thinking about it. These kids get trapped in physical bodies that just don't cooperate and for some of them they have the hope of one day running and playing like they have always wanted to. I could just tell she had a really sweet and happy personality.
Josh, from Lil' Vance's class, was also at camp. He
loves Happy Days so he came out and danced to the Happy Days theme song with a camp counselor.
Lil' Vance came back out to help Gabby (his girl friend) with her skit the dating game show.
Delaney, Gabby's sister, was the announcer for the game show.
In the end Gabby couldn't pick between the guys so they both received flowers from Gabs.
As a grand finale everyone came out and dance, even Superman (in the blue) who'd rescued Lois Lane from
Lex Luther, earlier in the show.
I mentioned earlier that both the boys have had a busy couple of weeks. Shane just got back from a week of being a teen leader at 4-H camp. He had a blast! And can't wait to go back next year. All the 4-H leaders told me they'd love to have him come back to help anytime. He turns right around and goes to Police Explorers boot camp all next week. He hurt his back coming off either the diving board or the 2 story water slide at camp (I didn't quite get the story straight). I'm hoping he doesn't end up doing too many push ups during the next week. No pictures b/c I wasn't there to take them, but I imagine he took a few on his cell phone so I'll see if I can get any posted of Shane's adventures.
As for me and Vance tomorrow we are going to Cincinnati Ohio to look at a 22' sailboat. We've been looking for some time now for another sailboat. Our Hobie is too fast a sailboat for lake sailing and also doesn't really accommodate 4 people. It's meant to be raced by a crew of 2. We think we've found a boat we'll all be able to enjoy. It is a single hull w/ a cuddy cabin that can sleep up to 5 people. The one in Ohio seems like what we've been looking for, although it's always hard to tell from just looking at pictures.
Graduation Day March
There were 3 teams and each team had to carry these timbers wherever they went.
Lined up in formation.
I didn't get a lot of pictures of the graduation ceremony because they had Lil' Vance and me on stage so that he could give his brother his award. I tried snapping this photo of Shane receiving the Tough Man award. It was a little tough because they were only about 2 feet away from me on the stage. Here Officer Pete is handing Shane a Buffer Pusser "Big Stick". This had been signed by Buffer's daughter Dwana when she came to speak at their camp earlier in the week.
After graduation they lined up again in formation one last time.
Shane with Officer Pete looking proud. Just this last Monday Shane and I were out mowing our neighbor's yard when I looked up to see a Sheriff's patrol car pulling in. Officer Pete had been driving by when he saw Shane so he turned around to come say Hi. It gave our neighbor Lorelle quite a thrill to have the a Sheriff's car in her yard until I explained that this was Shane's Police Explorer's Camp instructor. Officer Pete is a super nice guy, and he has a huge heart for these kids.
Shane with Officer Greg, half way through the ceremony Officer Greg became very emotional and had to leave the stage. It was neat to see that all of the people involved in this program really enjoy working with the young people.
Shane hanging out with the big shots. That's a National Guard recruiter he's talking to along with Officer's from the Sheriff's department and Mount Juliet's police officers. Wilson County's Chief of Police handed out the awards and personally shook both Lil' Vance and Shane's hands.
